Soviet Stargate Program
by FractiousDay
Summary: The Race to Berlin resulted in two great prizes for the Soviet Union, one was Berlin itself, the capital of their great enemy the Third Reich, the other was something infinitely more valuable, a piece of alien technology that would assure the future dominance of the USSR on the galactic stage. Long live the Soviet Stargate Program!
1. Moscow

_Just an AN: Everything I know about the USSR is from the internet, I'm not Russian, nor have I studied the history of the country in depth, so I apologise for any political, historical or geographical mistakes. _

* * *

Colonel Vladimir Durov reclined in the back seat of the state car taking him slowly along the Kremlin Enbankment across the Moskva River. His parade dress greatcoat was uncomfortably hot in the unseasonable weather that Moscow was experiencing, and several times he had had to remove his Ushanka to smooth back his hair to a more presentable state.

Two policemen on motorcycles shooed the civilian traffic off the road for Durov's car to get by, ahead the colours of St. Basil's Cathedral shone out against a clear blue sky. To the left the Necropolis, black plaques commemorating such heroes of the Soviet Union as Kalinych and Voykov against red stone walls.

They passed the Spasskaya Tower with its red star and turned into the small gate to Red Square. The car halted, and the driver proceeded to open Durov's door. The Colonel was unused to such treatment, only recently being elevated to field grade. In fact, he didn't remember the last time he had sat in the back of a car, either himself driving, or mostly likely flying or traveling by train to his next deployment.

Regardless, Durov stepped smartly out of the vehicle, returned the driver's salute and walked into the Kremlin. Introducing himself at the front desk he was escorted down several flights of stairs and a lift to one of the underground conference rooms built during the War.

"If you wait here sir, the Minister will be here shortly." Said his companion, and then disappeared down a corridor into the bowels of the building.

"Major Durov!" called a familiar voice from inside the room.

Durov walked in smiling.

"_Colonel_ Durov, my apologies, I was unaware you had been promoted, long overdue though." Said Major General Vasily Abramovich.

Durov greeted his old friend warmly, the man had saved his life several times in Stalingrad, until a German mortar round had taken his leg and he was shuttled back to headquarters on medical grounds.

"I heard you were in Manchuria." Questioned Durov, removing his Ushanka and placing it on the table.

"And you were busy in the Baltic." Replied the General.

"Yes." Agreed Durov, "With the 'Forest Brothers'… But we've made some progress there."

"So I've heard, how-"

However Abramovich was interrupted by the door opening again. Durov saw only the chest full of medals and sprang to attention, he may have been in the forests of Latvia for the last few months, but he still remembered protocol.

Aleksandr Vasilevsky was another man Durov knew from the Battle of Stalingrad, a magnificent tactician, one who had masterminded the counter-offensive into Germany, twice a Hero of the Soviet Union, four times recipient of the Order of Lenin, the Order of Victory twice and a first class Order of Suvorov.

"At ease gentlemen, be seated." Vasilevsky told them, and Durov pulled out a chair and did as the defence Minister bade him. Abramovich was already seated and had not gotten up in the first place, his prosthetic leg not being as versatile as that.

"General, Colonel, you both know each other I believe?" asked the Minister, glancing between them.

"Yes sir." They both replied.

"Very good, very good." Said Vasilevsky, "This is Professor Diakonoff, formerly of the University of Leningrad, now assigned to my ministry, he will brief you, please give his presentation your fullest attention."

Durov flicked his eyes at the scholarly man now setting up a series of slides on a projector at the end of the table. The Colonel had been quite surprised at Minister Vasilevsky's mannerisms, his own mental picture of the man being completely different from the reality, he had expected aquiline features and tall structure associated with those of higher mental agility, however the Minister was shorter than Durov himself, he estimated, and quite thickset.

Durov supposed it didn't particularly matter what the man looked like, the true worth of him being in his strategic thinking. Instead, he turned to Diakonoff, a young man, with round rimmed spectacles and a thin face.

"As Minister Vasilevsky said, my name is Igor Diakonoff, I am an expert in Ancient Near Eastern cultures, with particular emphasis on Assyria and Babylon, however recent circumstances have forced me to concentrate more on the egyptological aspect of my learning."

Diakonoff pushed a button on the projector and it whirred into life, a grainy yellowed image filling the paper screen he had erected. It appeared to be a map.

"This is the Giza Plateau, a site of significant archaeological interest over the years. In 1928 a British team uncovered this-"

A new slide appeared on the screen, it showed a large ring of unknown material, Durov estimated it at five metres in comparison, judging by the groups of people standing around it.

"At the time the purpose of the ring was unknown, and it remained in a museum in Giza, presumed to be some sort of ritual piece from the forth dynasty. Uncovered along with it were several other pieces, two of which we should concern ourselves with. The first, a cartouche with several inscriptions on it, showing here."

Another slide of a large stone tablet came up.

"And this other device."

A round platform, two feet off the ground supported by a pillar, appeared, several of what Durov could only describe as keys decorated the top, each having their own unique symbol.

"During the War, the Germans raided the museum and, under the orders of Heinrich Himmler, sent all associated materials back to Berlin. During the Battle of Berlin a suspiciously high proportion of troops was centred around a residential district. One Ravil Rozov, a Captain in the 23rd Rifle Division led the attack and took a bunker uncovered by artillery strikes against the area. Unfortunately Rozov was killed in a later action, however he reported back to headquarters regarding what he found."

"For the last three years," Minister Vasilevsky began, causing the two soldiers to turn to him, "Professor Diakonoff and his team have been attempting to understand what the Germans were doing and why they were so interested in these artefacts."

Durov raised an eyebrow in thought, Himmler and the SS's occultism and superstition was well known among the Red Army, and many a time had a commissar used it as a reason the Reich should be destroyed and an Age of Reason brought to the world, however Durov knew that a great deal of this was propaganda, for the Nazis to put so much effort into guarding these Egyptian relics in such an important battle spoke volumes about the value of said things.

"We have discovered that the keys on the second device, what we have termed a 'Dial Home Device' because of the complicated crystal array inside, correspond to the symbols on both the cartouche and the ring itself. We also discovered that the DHD is emitting energy which, along with the chemical analysis of the ring, leads us to believe that the ring and the DHD form a sort of telephone system, while the Cartouche appears to be an address."

'_But to where?'_ was the unspoken question.

"Since these discoveries we have come to a realisation, these artefacts were not made by humans."

"Aliens?" asked Durov, he'd be sceptical, but that was the only conclusion he could think of.

"Indeed Colonel." Minister Vasilevsky told him, "While at first this device was thought to be a communications machine, due to recent events the Professor believes it to be one of transportation." He held up a hand at the professor, forestalling his speech, "I am pressed for time, I'm sure there will be time for this later, however for the moment General and Colonel, we know that the device uses wormholes to transport matter between similar rings. We have made an expedition to another world and returned, the people there are ancient Egyptians transplanted by the aliens who created the rings."

"And our function Comrade Minister?" asked Abramovich.

Vasilevsky turned to the professor, "Wait outside," he told the man, and then waited till the door closed to continue speaking. "Your mandate is to acquire technology and resources to defend the Soviet Union against potential foes, both terrestrial and otherwise. Thoughts?"

Durov, for his part, was suspicious, not of the explanation, that seemed perfectly simple, and the Minister would not go along with some elaborate joke, but of the reasons for military involvement and the specifics of the operation.

Abramovich apparently had the same concerns, "Is this not the territory of the GRU?" he asked, "As military intelligence?"

"This project, from its iteration, had been under my purview, Comrade Stalin knows, as do a few select people, but less than a hundred people in total. The scientists who worked on the project, both German and Soviet and their families, have been kept on the base the past few years and not allowed out, the Professor here is listed in the census as dead."

Durov was mildly surprised at that, though disappearances were fairly common in the Union, it was rare for a party official to admit this.

"Both of you have been selected because you have no families or significant social connections, you will not be missed if you were to disappear and no-one would question it. Comrade Stalin intends to keep this project secret, even from the Kremlin, we cannot allow the larger Party to jeopardise the effort. Nor will you be issued political officers, not yet anyway."

"How will we receive funding?" asked Abramovich, "For men, for supplies?"

"Comrade Stalin has agreed that it will be siphoned off the current budget, boxes will fall off trucks, you know how things go missing…"

"Especially when so much equipment is being moved back from the front. There might even be men who… _desert_." Hinted Durov. This was of course skirting treason, but apparently Comrade Stalin had given them, as the French said, 'carte blanche' to pursue this mandate.

"Yes Colonel, a good idea, I will review the supply lines, a great deal of restructuring is going on at the moment."

They spoke over a few more details, the meeting coming to a close, then the Minister left, ascending into the Kremlin proper to his own affairs while the two soldiers collected Professor Diakonoff and took a car to Bykovo Airport. From there a transport plane flew them out over the east.

As Durov looked over the papers he had been given he grimaced, "You'll have to change the name." he told Diakonoff.

"What?" asked the Professor, "What's wrong with it? Stargate, a gate to the stars, it's obvious."

"That's the point." Replied Durov, Abramovich had fallen asleep; as such the Colonel had taken the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity and think up a few strategies for the program. "You can't have a name of a project that explains what the project does, think what would happen if an American spy got their hands on this?" he asked, shaking the cover page of the report at the Professor. "Call it something else, certainly the device itself is a 'stargate' as you said, but…actually wait…" Durov had a brilliant thought. "Call it the Stargate Program, yes do that, but, establish a set of false reports about a ballistic missile system, or similar, get some old V2 parts if you can, then we can pretend that 'Stargate' means something completely different, throwing off any spies."

"An excellent idea Colonel, I will see to the requisitions when we get to the base, now, if you will look over these reports from the small number of planets we've thus far visited, you see we found a series of other addresses, I wonder, in your military opinion, which the Union should create a base on?"


	2. Contact

The facility that had been termed 'Stargate Command' was built deep into the Ural Mountains of central Russia, rich in natural resources of metals and valuable minerals, several industrial towns had sprung up around the range over the years. Largest among these towns was Magnitogorsk, named after the mountain, Magnitogorsk held the largest metalworks in the whole of Russia, as such, it was not surprising that large quantities of mining and engineering equipment had begun filtering into the town in recent months. A small airport had even been build, only two runways, but now the sound of large Lisunov Li-2 transporters filled the air on most days.

Ostensibly, much of the material was going into the construction of a new military base in the mountains, a large area had been cordoned off as an artillery practice range, as well as enabling the brave men of the Red Army to conduct mountain-based training operations in order to better defend their motherland.

While it was certainly true that there was a military base being constructed, the function of the base was a lie. While an artillery base would certainly have underground areas, the majority of the base would be above ground. In comparison, Stargate Command was centred around a kilometer deep shaft, with different areas radiating off it like the spokes of a wheel. On the top level the primary barracks, with the canteen and other requirements of similar sort. On the next level a series of scientific laboratories and workshops. On the third several water reservoirs as well as a backup geothermal power plant. On the last level a secondary barracks, an infirmary and a long 'T' shaped chamber.

"Lieutenant!" bellowed the voice of Colonel Durov bellowed, "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

The junior officer in question sprang to attention and turned about, cigarette falling from his mouth in surprise.

Durov marched up to him and angrily ground the offending object beneath the heel of his boot. "You stand at the forefront of Soviet military power, you guard against whatever can come through _that_!" he stabbed a hand at the Stargate. "At any moment an army could rush through it and gain a foothold in the motherland! Do you want that?"

The officer was silent, understanding well that the question was rhetorical.

"Go now, and find some paint, then, I want you to write 'No smoking' on both of the walls up to here."

The lieutenant saluted, Durov returned it, and the soldier jogged off to obey the order. Durov found punishment in such situations superfluous, for the first offense, as long as it was a harmless one, the Colonel did not usually give any punishment, rather attempted to reinforce the lesson.

The actual reason for his presence in the Gate Room was to assess the defences. So far the main access to the Gate was through two main doors at the bottom of the 'T' of the room, two other doors at the end of the arms of the 'T' allowed access from alternative routes in case the primary ones were blocked. At the moment the DHD sat in the very centre of the room, facing the Stargate.

This was obviously problematic, as it would both provide cover to invaders as well as prevent shutting the gate down in a firefight. However, Durov was told it could be moved, which was good. Gate and DHD were overseen from above in the control room, protected by ballistic glass three inches thick and blast doors, the control room was the nerve centre of the operation, directing travellers to their destinations as well as computing something called 'interstellar drift' which was apparently important.

Durov, having seen all that he would see, walked back to the control room, climbing a short metal stairway to the platform.

"Colonel Durov, report!" barked General Abramovich.

The general had taken well to his new command, he had his prosthetic fitted with a rubber sole in order to grip better on the concrete floors and had been so far reviewing the reports of the officer in charge previously.

"I have completed my preliminary analysis sir." Durov stated.

"Excellent, come show me."

Durov pulled a sheet of paper to him from a pile on the desk. Then he retrieved the pencil he always kept in his breast pocket and drew a rough outline of the Gate room. "The layout is good, defensively it would be difficult to break without armour, even without defensive embankments and fortifications, however, as precaution against direct strikes through the gate, I would recommend some form of causeway or gauntlet the enemy has to pass through."

"Direct strikes?" asked Abramovich.

"I've been speaking with a few of the scientists about how the Stargate works, apparently it is one way, therefore, any attack an enemy force makes will be able to get through the Gate regardless, and any shots we get through the gate will not appear on the other side."

"So we can't just get a few machine guns and line them up?"

"Not exactly." Said Durov, drawing two half circles near the ring he had drawn to represent the Stargate, "I believe we should position two machine gun nests, DShK's for preference, or RPD's, however they should be offset, slightly, not directly before the Gate. Otherwise the enemy could have their own machine guns, or whatever, and just shoot through the Gate, leaving us unable to do anything. This setup will prevent any shots getting through, as well as allowing us overlapping fields of fire."

"Very good Vladamir," congratulated the General, "Do you have any other thoughts on it?"

"Well I'd like some flamethrowers…" said Durov, "but I'd worry about ventilation, as they would obscure visibility with the smoke, as well as using up air when they burn. Also, regarding the use of a bombardment before embarkation, I was thinking about having one of those PPSh-41 arrays they experimented with on the Tupolev bombers, that could work better than artillery for a destination Stargate in and urban area."

"A good point, I will bring up your concern with the engineering staff later today. You however, will now review our off-world holdings. Then, you will return and dine with me at lunch, and after, you will help me go through all the dossiers Comrade Vasilevsky has given me for the personnel on base."

Though as a matter of protocol there was a degree of formality between them, the bond forged on the Eastern Front allowed the Colonel some familiarity with his commanding officer, and often during the later months of the war they had dined together, discussing politics and strategy.

Durov threw a sardonic salute and marched happily off, retrieving his own PPSh-41 sub-machine gun from the armoury, as well as changing into his KKOs or 'Set Camouflage Uniform' from his locker.

* * *

Three weeks later Colonel Durov stepped back through the Stargate to Earth, a dozen high powered guns were trained on him as he slowly put down his weapon and walked to the infirmary, where two burly soldiers restrained him and the doctors began their tests.

This was standard protocol by now. As one of the scientists had pointed out during the first few missions, the aliens that had built the Stargates were obviously advanced; therefore there was no way to know their capabilities in the areas of subterfuge and espionage. This meant that each time they came back through the Gate they had to be checked and questioned to make sure it was really them and not some shape-shifting creature intent on destruction.

"Inform the General that he will want to debrief me here." Durov told an orderly and they nodded and left. For this particular mission Durov was under quarantine, as were the rest of his team. Drawing from the lessons of the Western colonisation of America General Abramovich had ordered all teams coming back having encountered alien civilisations to go through a check to make sure they hadn't contracted alien smallpox.

Professor Diakonoff had insisted on joining them through the Gate, arguing that he was the only Egyptologist on the payroll at the moment and therefore was the only one to be able to understand the people of Abydos, the first planet they had 'Gated' to. While Durov expected the Professor to tire of the great heat of the desert planet, the scholar had proved a hardy fellow, and kept up with the rest of the soldiers well enough.

The Colonel watched through a glass window into the observation deck overseeing the room as Abramovich hobbled in. "Colonel Durov, what is it?" the general asked.

"Bad new I'm afraid sir, or good I suppose, depends how you look at it." Replied Durov, "It was our assumption from the recognisance of the Abydosians that they were an agrian people, not that far socially evolved from their Egyptian ancestors. However we thought it unusual for a mainly agrian people to be doing so much mining."

"Yes I've read the report on the possible causes of their fascination with the practice." Said Abramovich is a questioning voice.

"Well," continued the Colonel, "we made contact as you ordered, speaking with the village leader Yenal, we gave them some chocolate and a couple of knives, nothing big, just to appear friendly, then Igor got to talking with Yenal's son Kasuf, who told us that all the material they mine, which is apparently called 'naquadah' by the way, is taken every hundred years by the Great God Ra."

"Ra the Egyptian Sun god?" asked Abramovich, stroking his chin.

"Well obviously an alien masquerading as him, but yes."

"And when is 'Ra' due to return?"

"On that point we're not as sure." Said Durov, "Yenal said that Ra last came 'when he was a boy' however that could mean anywhere between 1880 and 1910, given that we didn't know his age."

Abramovich nodded, considering the new information, "Good work Colonel, once your through quarantine come see me in my office."

"Sir."

* * *

"At least another two hundred catalogued today," continued Igor Diakonoff, "I'm going to need more equipment, paper, pencils, no typewriters or ink pens, they stop working because it's so hot out there."

"That can be supplied easily Professor." Said Abramovich, "what about personnel, will you be needing any more men? I can put in a request."

Igor frowned. "I'll need more chocolate," he said.

"Curious request." Noted Durov from where he was perusing through the Gate addresses in the pamphlet.

"I've sort of employed a few boys from the village; I taught them to copy down the hieroglyphs, on the walls, I pay them in chocolate. Apart from that more personnel wouldn't be particularly useful, it's a particularly tricky dialect that they use; I mainly need help with cataloguing."

"Well that we can do." Replied Abramovich.

"Also." Continued the Professor, "I would recommend more archaeologists, but for other cultures."

"Go on."

"You see, I have a theory regarding the aliens." Igor reached for a picture showing the god Ra holding the sun and a curved stick, "This is Ra, obviously the bird head could show he was an alien, some sort of bird person, but I think it's a mask."

"What's your evidence?" asked Durov, envying the General who had just ignited a cigarette, Durov used to smoke, but then he had been offered a cigar, and since he would not smoke the inferior cigarettes, only cigars, but he had been unable to procure any recently, even through the black market.

"Well the Egyptians had a pantheon of many gods, if we take Ra as an alien pretending to be a god, why not the rest of them? We can assume that these aliens have a familial structure, because so many of the gods are related, also, there are accounts of various feats of magic, such as resurrection, this could just be the work of advanced technology."

Durov nodded, it made sense, then he had a thought. "Ganesh." He said suddenly.

"Yes, yes!" Igor said excitedly, "That was my thinking…why just the Egyptians? Why not other cultures, there must be a reason for the popularity for animal-human hybrids in mythology. While that theory, of other cultures, Ganesh and Cernunnos notwithstanding, I am certain that there are other Egyptian deities out there pretending to be Gods. Maybe the mythical battles between different Gods were just the reports of actual battles, told by those too primitive to understand them."

"And have you recommendations toward the conduct of this program following these revelations?" asked Durov. In his eyes it didn't change anything, it just meant they had more enemies, and it wasn't as if the Red Army would ever fall just because they were outnumbered.

"We should begin immediate explorations based on the cartouche's addresses. This would mean a large expansion of the current project, I have some figures if you would like them?"

"Proceed."

"So far we have about six hundred addresses from the cartouche on Abydos, that's about a fifth of the writings, however a lot of it was just about the history of Ra, the size of his domain and the strength of his armies and so forth." Said Igor, giving them each a copy of his report, "I would recommend at least ten teams to go off world, preferably more, at the moment our engineering staff have very little to do, given we have as of yet not recovered any advanced technology other than the Stargate and the small quantity of Naquadah that Colonel Durov 'recovered'."

Durov had in fact snuck in at night to the mining centre and stolen a sack of the mineral, they had set a fire in the village as a distraction, then helped the villagers fight the fire and put it out to gain their trust. No one was hurt and everyone benefited.

"Hm." Abramovich grunted, "Perhaps you're right, if there are more 'gods' out there we must prepare for them. Meanwhile though, by what mechanism would you have us introduce ourselves to the people around the galaxy? To pre-industrial societies our weapons and equipment will look strange enough to appear to be from another village maybe, but to any advanced civilisation they will know the strangers who come through the Stargate are soldiers."

This was a point of some contention between Abramovich and Diakonoff, the former advocating a military approach in case the imperialist aliens were the next destination, while the latter believed the teams more likely to encounter more former slaves like the Abydosians.

"That can be addressed as is necessary; so far the robotic probe had been enough to tell us what the situation is without any risk of aliens coming back to our Gate."

"It would be useful to be able to stop a wormhole entirely though." Said Durov. Though the robotic probe had been employed thus far he could easily see it being weaponised, if the Stargate lead to a marketplace or similar urban setting, or perhaps a temple if it was revered as a symbol of the false gods they could just strap a bomb to the probe and send it though. The problem was the enemy could do the same.

"Engineering are working on a mechanism for that." Said Igor back to Durov, "They call it an 'Iris', it's a sort of shutter just in front of the wormhole, it prevents matter from fully materialising, they just need the General's permission to try and build a prototype on the gate."

"As long as it doesn't interfere with normal operations." Agreed Abramovich amiably.


	3. The First Step

It was dark when they stepped through the Stargate.

Colonel Durov raised his weapon, looking through the trees for any sign of life. His team materialised around him, fanning out into a crescent with him at the centre.

"Alright men, forward, skirmish formation, Petrenko, relay back that we're here and setting off to get Dr. Markhov."

Private Petrenko, their radio-man began turning the handle of his radio, unlike the old man-portable radios used in the War, the current radios used by Stargate Command were smaller, and therefore had less range, but were far lighter and smaller.

"SG-4 said the natives took Markhov due west." Whispered Dmitri, their heavy weapons specialist. He was lugging an RPK light machine gun as well as several grenades. Durov had his PPSh-41 as usual, while the others of his squad were equipped with the new AK-47 rifle. An excellent weapon in Durov's opinion, both rugged and durable it was due to be adopted in the Red- in the _Soviet_ he should say, Army, in the next few months, however due to the fact that the commander of their base had a direct line to Comrade Stalin's desk they were afforded early access to the weapon.

The planet they were on was apparently known as Avnil, Durov was unsure of where the name had originated, but there it was, the people there were an Iron Age civilisation, however they were also cave dwellers, because of the great levels of UV radiation brought about because of an insufficiently thick atmosphere. To study this unique environment SG-4 had escorted Dr. Markhov through the Gate to take atmospheric readings. The problem being that the natives took offense to this and attacked SG-4, wounding one man and dragging Markhov off into the night.

Several cavemen had been shot during this encounter of course, but their bodies were nowhere to be found.

"Sir, trail up ahead." Came the whisper of Ilya, their Slavic sniper and tracker.

"Take point." Replied Durov and nodded forward.

The squad moved out after the sniper, rapidly following in the trail of broken stems and branches that marked the savages path. The mission was a time-sensitive one, as if they were caught outside in the daytime the results would apparently be 'unpleasant'.

Up ahead a glow broke the darkness. Ilya held up a closed fist to halt them and peered into his scope. "Twenty plus primitives, some armed, they're feasting. The Doctor tied up at the eastern edge, either unconscious or sleeping."

The question of how to measure direction was an interesting one for the SGC to deal with, as their compasses didn't work on some planets they mainly had to rely on the sun and its direction. This was made more difficult on one planet with a binary star system, where there seemed to only be a brief night period between two longer day ones, one for each sun.

"SG-1 move out," ordered Durov, "Petrenko, Dmitri to the right, Ilya with me, Ivanovichs to the left, do not fire unless threatened, I'll scare them off, then we get Markhov and get out."

Technically they weren't supposed to kill natives, however General Abramovich had made it abundantly clear that he valued their lives at next to nothing and therefore didn't care if a native accidently got shot, especially if they were one of the excessively primitive tribes like the Avnilians. The Abydosians were considered 'friends' for instance, possibly because of their Naquadah reserves, and their cartouche, but also because several of the base personnel had struck up friendships with the villagers.

While Dmitri and Ilya had both been at Stalingrad with Colonel Durov, and had therefore been among the first he had contacted with offers for places in the program, the Ivanovich brothers and Private Petrenko were part of SG-2, their main response team. SG-1 had evolved to become the first exploratory unit, while SG-2 was a double strength unit designed to protect the base and its personnel, they were the first responders, providing support. Thankfully they had not been necessary yet, and Colonel Durov only needed a couple more men to take on some cave-men, not a whole three teams.

So far the SGC had made more cultural and sociological discoveries than military ones, most of the teams just escort archaeologists to ancient ruins on other planets and watched out for natives and wild animals.

That being said, both the General the Colonel knew that it was ruins that had given them the Stargate in the first place, and as such, ruins should not be taken lightly. Perhaps they would find some great cache of weaponry.

Durov glanced both ways to check his squad was in place, then, aiming his weapon in the air shot a short blast upwards.

The sound sharp crack of gunfire filled the forest for a second, startling the primitives from their meal.

Durov fired again, this time a slightly longer burst.

The primitives still did not scatter, and some were reaching for weapons. The Colonel aimed for one and riddled its chest with bullets. The thing he loved about his gun was just how fast it fired, and with a drum magazine it made the weapon almost into a proper machine gun.

With the death of their leader the tribe scattered. One of the Ivanovichs clubbed one with the butt of his rifle as it almost ran into him but the rest escaped unharmed.

"Ilya, revive the doctor, Dmitri, time?"

"Two hours till sunrise Comrade Colonel." Replied the big man.

"He's not waking up Sir, and he has a nasty bruise on his temple, he may have a concussion." Said Ilya, checking over Markhov.

"Alright." Replied Durov, "Dmitri, grab him, give me your gun."

"Sir." Grunted the specialist, handing over his light machine gun and hefting the doctor in a fireman's lift.

Colonel Durov let his sub-machine gun dangle from its strap behind him and felt the weight of Dmitri's weapon. He preferred lighter weapons for the mobility, but he was proficient is most types anyway.

"Double-time it back to the Gate, if you see a caveman once scare him off, if you see him twice shoot him, watch your fire."

They jogged back through the undergrowth, Dmitri stubbornly loping along like a carthorse, Ilya ghosting through the undergrowth in that peculiar manner that only snipers possess.

Soon they made it back to the Gate, well within time, and dialled home. The Stargate engaged, the vortex spilling out, they grabbed the robot probe and made their way back home.

**OOOOOOOOOOOO**

"And you say this device has the ability to block ultraviolet radiation?" asked Abramovich sometime later.

"Yes indeed Comrade General." replied Major Chernov, head of the Engineering Division of the SGC, "It's a kind of shield. I should think used by the aliens to prevent harm by the planet's harsh sunlight."

"The size of the shield?"

"Contingent only on the power supplied I would think, of course several laws come into effect there like the cubic law, but we should be able to erect a fairly large field. We're calling it the Markhov device, given that it was Dr. Markhov that led us to it after his capture after all."

"Very well done Major, please forward me the report once you've complied it." Said Abramovich dismissing the man. When Chernov was gone he picked up the red phone on his desk and dialled one. "Get me the Chairman." The general waited a few seconds and was greeted with an inquiring voice.

"Comrade Stalin." General Abramovich addressed his Commander gravely, "The Stargate Program had recovered its first piece of alien technlology."


	4. Nova Roma

The year 1948 dawned with some small celebration in the SGC, the two hundred or so people on the base crowded into the Gate room and sung the national anthem while General Abramovich conducted them from the raised platform of the Stargate. Then he opened a bottle of champagne sent there by Comrade Stalin himself to celebrate the efforts of the SGC personnel.

However, as some planet's day and night cycles were not , matched to Earth's, teams often had to go out during the night.

As such when the singing and drinking was done the crowd dispersed, and Colonel Durov gave the signal for the Gate to be dialled. As the ring spun around he stepped back to allow the latest generation of robotic probe through the gate.

The wormhole bloomed out and Dr. Diakonoff (being recorded as dead meant that he could no longer hold the title 'professor') consulted a high-resolution screen connected to the new Mobile All-terrain Laboratory Platform, or MALP. Along with its larger cousin the Field Remote Expeditionary Device, the MALP had originally been assigned as an unmanned drone to the Soviet space program for use on the moon, however Comrade Stalin had thought it better to be used at the SGC.

"What've we got Igor?" asked the Colonel, regarding the Gate.

"Marketplace, appears deserted," reeled off the Doctor as he consulted the machine's instruments, "architecture is… Roman or Greek, can't be certain at this distance."

"Do you speak either?" asked Durov. While communication using sign language was possible, it was much easier when one of the linguists actually knew the language. There had apparently been great strides in the understanding of ancient cultures because of the Stargate Program. Pity they'd never be able to tell anyone about it.

"I know enough of both to make ourselves understood." Replied Igor.

Durov nodded and hefted his weapon at the Gate, "Alright SG-1, cautious advance, safeties on."

They stepped through the wormhole, the now familiar flashes of light bathing them for a few seconds until they regained footing on the alien world.

At first the scientific community had been unsure of the best method of entering the Gate, some advocated running at top speed, others edging along the floor, it was only when someone pointed out the absurdity of these methods that they reached a consensus, why would the alien Gate-builders design such a cumbersome transport system?

In the end it was recommended that a simple step through would be sufficient in most cases, and that became protocol.

"Roman." Said Igor after glancing around, "Definitely Roman."

"How can you tell?" asked Durov. If he remembered his schooling properly this marketplace would be the 'forum' popular in Roman towns.

"Well… The massive Coliseum behind you for a start."

Durov turned. "Well." He breathed, "this is new."

Behind them stood a city, busy streets filled with multitudes of people of every hue and colour, noble columns tall over the streets supporting flying buttresses and arches. Square monoliths of marble and granite.

And in the distance, lesser structures cowering in its shadow they beheld the Coliseum, a thousand arches in a circle, a thousand colourful pennants flying overhead.

"So… Nova Roma do you think? For a name." asked Igor.

"Well it certainly fits." Replied Durov, he knew enough Latin for that at least.

"Dial the Gate sir?" asked Dmitri, looking round suspiciously.

"If you can find the DHD." Durov said, he didn't see it himself, now, while that could potentially mean they wouldn't be able to get back home, it wasn't a great issue, they had in fact already established protocol for such a situation, the SGC would check in in a hour, at which point the MALP could be used as a relay if they were far from the Gate to contact home. Afterwards engineers and technicians could come through and assemble a crude computer around the Gate that would allow them to get back. The Portable Dialling Computer was by no means a DHD, and could only dial the SGC once, but it still allowed them to get back.

"None in sight Comrade Colonel." Said Dimitri after a quick search.

"Hm." Huffed the Colonel, "Stick together, Igor's the only one who speaks Latin, let's go see what's going on."

They walked through the streets of Nova Roma, Colonel Durov remembering the history books he had read as a child, the details correct even down to the cohort of Urban Guard marching down the street.

Surprisingly, the four Russians attracted very little surprise from the people of the city. As outlandish as their uniforms may seem they were frequently greeted by passers-by on the street, and drew no more attention than any other person.

They passed bath houses, slave actions, one rather irate politician in a white and purple toga who according to Igor was complaining about sewage, and several more market places till they reached what appeared to be a highway, or at least one of the main roads. On the corner of the junction there appeared to be an eatery, one equipped with a spacious balcony, they ascended to the top and sat down for lunch.

"One of the thing I like about this job," said Ilya, taking out a sandwich, "Is that while half the time we're in battle, the other half is like being on holiday, except without the unpleasant plane ride to get there."

Durov smiled, the SGC was certainly one of the best jobs in the Soviet Army, with being something like a test pilot for aircraft ranking higher. Certainly there was the tedium of reports and the quarantine procedure, but that was offset by missions like this one.

Ilya was about to take another bite of his sandwich when he abruptly put it down and unclipped the scope from his sniper rifle. Holding it up and looking down the highway he turned to Dr. Diakonoff. "Doctor," he said, "What is the name for a creature as tall as a giraffe but as burly as a rhino?"

Igor scrambled for his binoculars, "Well that sounds like an Indricotherium, but they died out on Earth in the Oligocene epoch. Can't be one though, because it wouldn't be able to breathe this atmosphere."

The whole squad had their binoculars out by now and were looking at a strange parade of creatures. Durov estimated them at around five metres tall, and perhaps twice that in length, they were a dull grey like an elephant. On their backs several colourfully dressed Romans stood in howdahs secured by thick straps around the creatures.

"Interesting." Concluded Durov regarding the creature, "But of no immediate application to the USSR, pack up SG-1, we're going back to the Gate."

SG-1 left the café and marched back to the Stargate, they arrived back in the forum with six minutes to spare until Abramovich would check in. However there was a large crowd waiting for them there. Various citizens in togas and tunics stood around the MALP, trying to activate it, this was fine with Durov, given that you needed a key to turn it on and only his team had the key.

Toward the back he spied some soldiers, roughly a platoon, one sturdy looking Negro wearing a helmet with alternating transverse white and red plumes, the others a mixture of races wearing less ostentatious armour.

"Dmitri, clear them away from the Stargate, don't want any unnecessary casualties do we?" Durov told his subordinate.

"No Comrade Colonel." Replied the big man, and went to clear away the people from the MALP and danger zone where the vortex would materialise.

"Igor, come introduce us to the soldiers." Durov said loudly, calling the doctor over from where he was attempting to move some of the citizens.

"Vladimir, I don't even know if I'll be able to talk to them, they won't necessarily speak Latin."

"I thought you said they were Roman?"

"Well yes, but not everyone in the Roman Empire spoke Latin."

Durov paused; this could make things more difficult. "Very well." He allowed, "Standby Igor. Ilya!"

"Sir?"

"Time till base dials in?"

"Momentarily sir." The Slav called back.

Durov saw that Dmitri had cleared out all the Romans from the vortex's path just as it erupted. "Excellent." He grinned as the crowd recoiled in shock.

The radio on the MALP crackled into life. "_SG-1, this is General Abramovich, what is your situation? Over."_

Durov marched smartly over to the radio and picked up the receiver. "This is Colonel Durov," he said, "DHD is absent, repeat, DHD is absent."

"_Received SG-1 will dispatch PDC to your location."_

"Negative SGC, situation is potentially hostile."

"_Do you require reinforcements Colonel_?"

"Situation currently peaceful, SG-2 would be preferred."

"_Received SG-1, situation cold, SG-2 are on their way." _

Colonel Durov walked forward to stand in front of the soldiers. Their commander had ordered them into formation, swords out and shields protecting them.

Less than a minute later SG-2 thundered through the gate, weapons ready in their hands.

'Cold entry' indicated that reinforcements were needed for backup or intimidation purposes, it had been useful in a few situations with primitive cultures. On the other hand, 'hot entry' meant that a machine gun would be sprayed through the Gate at waist height.

"Right," said Durov pleasantly, "Igor, _now_ introduce us."

Dr. Diakonoff wandered over to the soldiers and started speaking Latin to them. Then he turned back, "Um…what am I supposed to tell them apart from 'hello'?"

Durov sighed, Diakonoff, was to a degree, the classic intellectual, with little creative thinking. He was not a soldier, and refused to carry more than a pistol. Having said that, he had almost no moral compass, so at least Durov didn't have to worry about Igor being some die-hard liberal.

"Igor," Durov called, "just translate: I am Colonel Vladimir Durov of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, we are peaceful explorers from the planet Earth."

* * *

Centurion Decimus of the third Urban Cohort of Nova Roma frowned at the strangers. He kept his men in formation, should they prove hostile, but for the moment they appeared to just be standing around.

A man had come to the cohort's barracks an hour before with a strange tale of sorcery at the Forum Vulcanal, around the large stone ring that had been there for years. The IV Legio brought it back as a trophy from the Beastlands during the last war.

Decimus had been dispatched to the Forum to guard against any incursion of the Beastmen against Nova Roma; they were known to inhabit the sewers after all, along with slaves and criminals. However upon arriving they found two strange metal carts, one with a large arm and a glass eye, the other with many packs and cases strapped to it. Soon after these four strangers had appeared, though their dress was strange it was no more so that men from Oriens or Asiana. They had stranger weapons though, of a like Decimus had never seen, metal rods, and from the way they were pointed they functioned not unlike the Scorpio or the Polybolos. They were soldiers in any case; they had uniforms and walked as such.

It was possible they were mercenaries, but such were forbidden in the city by order of the Praefectus urbi, and would have never been allowed so armed past the Vigiles Urbani.

Suddenly from one of the metal carts a voice came, the language strange and like nothing Decimus had heard before. His suspicious of sorcery were immediately renewed, however evidently it did not disconcert the strangers, as their leader went to the box and spoke to it. Perhaps there was a tiny man inside, like the pygmies of the southern jungles. The leader said something else and the great stone ring began to glow.

Decimus' men muttered prayers and oaths, decrying the strangers, his subordinate Marcus Tarinius whispered into his ear that they should finish the strangers now, so that they might not complete their spell.

"No." whispered Decimus back to him, they would wait for now.

When seven points on the great ring glowed and a blue light filled the square, exploding out from the ring. Luckily none of the citizens in the centre of the Forum were engulfed, as one of the strangers had pushed them out of the way.

From the portal ran a handful more of strangers ran, wielding weapons the same as the first four.

"Spread out." Decimus ordered, "Surround them but do not attack." If he was right in thinking that their weapons were ranged ones being in a wider formation would be of use in the event of a fight.

One of the strangers approached Decimus, this one did not appear a soldier, just dressed as one, he did not wear the black piece of cloth the rest had on their heads.

"This man," the stranger spoke in halting Latin, "is Durov, soldier of the Soviet Republic, of the world of Terra, he greets you in friendship."

"I am Decimus, Centurion of Nova Roma of the world of Elysium." Replied Decimus in a voice that carried to 'Durov', ignoring the interpreter. No doubt he was a servant or slave to the soldiers. As for their claims of being from Terra, there were men in positions of greater authority than him who would decide if the men were mad, lying, or both.

"Sheathe weapons." He hissed to his men, "Fall in." and so they did, forming up with great precision brought on by hours of drilling.

The interpreter stepped forward again, having relayed Decimus' message back to his master and received a reply. "Durov wishes speech with your commander," he said, "his gratitude is yours should you convey us to whatever superiors you may have."

By this point in the conversation Decimus was relatively sure that these soldiers were not magicians, nor intended any hard to the people of Nova Roman, perhaps they possessed some powerful magic, as shown by the portal which brought them here, it was well known to be a artefact of the pagans in any case, but they simply did not look, or act like wizards. The interpreter barely spoke Latin well enough to treat with them.

"Very well." He told Durov, trusting the servant to rely his words back. Then he ordered his men to form two groups, one behind the strangers, one in front and marched off to the barracks.

* * *

"Report Igor." Durov ordered as they walked along.

Dr. Diakonoff had been wandering around talking to the Romans, Durov hoped he had something to show for it at least.

"Well I know when their descendants got kidnapped." Replied Igor happily.

"Well?"

"Some time in the reign of Emperor Trajan, one of the better Roman Emperors, ruled around 100AD, anyway, a Legion was thought to be destroyed in Parthia, from what I've learnt from these Romans that was a lie, the Legion was actually transported in 'a great flash of light' in their words, to here. They found no enemies and the Legion commander named himself Emperor and set about conquering the lands around them." Explained Igor.

Durov absorbed the information. "I see." He said eventually. The Colonel was unsure of whether the origins of these people was relevant to the current problem of aliens, they certainly didn't appear to have any advanced technology.

"Another interesting thing though." Continued Igor, "Apparently they got the Stargate from what they call the 'Beastmen'."

"Aliens?" asked Durov.

"Possibly, but I doubt the one's we're looking for, given these Beastmen fight with stone weapons for the most part."

"Get on with the story then." Ilya interrupted from behind them.

"Well," began Igor, his feathers ruffled, "According to popular legend, the transported Romans thanked Vulcan, the smith god for their situation, the land around them was fertile and there wasn't anyone to contest their claim to it. Then, a hundred years after a man from the sky in a chariot of fire, he told them he was Vulcan and his eyes glowed. Vulcan demanded tribute and slaves from the city, they refused and he smote the city and flew away in his chariot. Afterwards the servants of Vulcan, the Beastmen, who were thought to be from the Underworld, attacked Rome."

"Though evidently they were driven off." Pointed out Durov, as he only saw Romans around.

"Indeed, and sealed away behind a range of mountains to the north." Continued Igor, "Something like Hadrian's Wall in Scotland I think, problem being, every few years, Vulcan smites the walls with a great fire, allowing the hordes of Beastmen through.

"Why doesn't Vulcan smite the legions directly? Rather than the wall?" asked Ilya, "Or the city itself, this 'great fire' is probably artillery or missiles, and the 'chariot of fire' a plane."

"Maybe they're tramplers." Noted Durov.

"'Tramplers'?" asked Igor in a confused tone.

"_Shtrafbat_." Durov answered, "You know, penal battalions, sent in to clear obstacles, this 'Vulcan' is just trying to test the Roman's defences."

"That or he's run out of ammunition, or has limited range." Put in Ilya.

"Good points." Durov acknowledged. It did indeed seem odd that an advanced alien would use his weapons so sparingly. "Igor," he said, suddenly having a thought, "if there are these Beastmen all over the place how did they get the Stargate?"

Igor shrugged and jogged up the marching line to the head of the column; he quickly conferred with the leader and then came back. "He says one of the Emperor wanted to stop the invasions so he sent a military expedition into the Beastlands, they couldn't find the source of the Beastmen, but they found the Stargate in a sort of temple."

"Did you ask if they found a DHD there?"

"No."

"Well go do that then you idiot."

* * *

"So you this 'Vulcan' is one of the race of Aliens of whom Ra was a part Colonel?"

"Yes Comrade Minister."

Hearing of the potential of a cache of alien weaponry, Defence Minister Vasilevsky had come to the SGC in the Urals himself to take charge of the situation.

Vasilevsky leant back in his chair; hand on his chin, considering the situation. "I agree that the behaviour is unusual, it's the reasons for it we must be careful of considering." He postulated. "General Abramovich, what are your thoughts on this matter?"

"Minister," the General began, "I believe the alien known as Vulcan must have some pressing reason to remain on Elysium, rather than leaving the world. Perhaps he cannot leave, as whatever craft he has had been damaged, in which case he is attempting to regain control of the Stargate to use that."

"Did the Romans give any indication of when they acquired the Stargate Colonel?" Vasilevsky asked.

"It was unclear sir, there seemed to be a great deal of uncertainty about that period of history, owing to the Beastman occupation of the city, many of the records of that period were lost." Durov reported.

"That is most unfortunate." Vasilevsky said, "However, it does give us some interesting information to draw conclusions from."

"Sir?" asked Colonel Durov, he had thought up some theories but he wasn't the one who had won the Battle of Stalingrad, as such he would defer to Vasilevsky.

"Consider yourself as Vulcan the Alien," Vasilevsky began, "It would no doubt be far easier to kidnap workers from primitive cultures such as the Roman civilisation rather than make war on other aliens such as Ra for their resources. I believe that Vulcan took the Romans to seed a new world with life. These 'Beastmen' were perhaps a race he previously used, but given reports of their development they proved too stupid or intractable as subjects."

"But how then explain the century of absence?" asked Abramovich.

"Indeed General," said Vasilevsky, "The only conclusion I can think of for that would be that Vulcan was busy, I assume he was attacked by another alien or there was an internal power struggle in his domain, it may not even be the same Vulcan, perhaps one alien transplanted the Romans and a different alien came to demand tribute."

Durov nodded, that made sense, "And you believe this alien was trapped in the Beastlands sir?" he asked, "Perhaps his spacecraft was damaged in this power struggle and he needed slaves to help him fix it, the Beastmen lacking the dexterity required?"

Vasilevsky nodded, "An excellent hypothesis Colonel, unfortunately we cannot be sure of anything at this point."

Duvor restrained himself from smiling in pride, the Defence Minister complimenting his strategy!

Abramovich then leant forward, "I assume we are to lead an attack to recover this technology?" he asked Vasilevsky.

The Minister nodded, "And Vulcan if possible." He turned to Durov, "Colonel Durov, Comrade Stalin has authorised to open diplomatic negotiations with the Roman leadership, this includes an alliance or a deal of military assistance against the Beastmen, trade relations are also acceptable, up to and including modern weapons."

"What would be the end result of this deal Comrade Minister?" Durov asked, obviously they couldn't just give the Romans a lot of guns and say 'there you go'.

"Their de facto inclusion into the Soviet Union of course." Vasilevsky said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Not yet obviously, we shall establish friendly relations with them, they may remain in the manner of an autonomous region or vassal state, making them a full part would require disclosure of the SGC to the general public, which is unacceptable, however the long term strategy is to seed their civilisation with Soviet-friendly ideas. This will be the place of the political officers the SGC will eventually be assigned, for the moment though, conduct a campaign against these Beastmen… that will earn us the trust of the Romans."

Colonel Durov nodded seriously. This was a significant development. "Sir," he asked, recalling something Igor had asked him a few weeks ago, "Who is the enemy of this program? The Americans or the Aliens?"

Vasilevsky smiled, "Whoever attacks us first Colonel, whoever attacks us first…"


	5. The Stargate Regiment

"Igor…" Colonel Durov asked quietly, "This… gentleman here, he's reading a report regarding the treasonable activities of one Licinius Papilius?"

Dr. Diakonoff looked up from his notebook in surprise. "Actually yes." He said, "I've been noting some of it down, just as an exercise in understanding this dialect of Latin they're using. There a larger proportion of Greek in it that usual, which is interesting because-"

"Just confirm what he's saying for me," the Colonel interrupted, "Right… 'Shame on the principles of the age. The Senate is aware of this; the Consul sees them; and yet the man lives. Yes, he comes into the Senate'… something about an aqueduct… didn't catch the part, Tiberius Gracchus, killed on the order of Papilius, crucified as a slave, yet had Roman citizenship."

The Colonel turned back to Diakonoff, who was staring at him in open mouthed surprise. "How can you understand them?" he asked in wonderment.

"I have no clue, ideas?" Durov shrugged.

"Well…well I really have no idea; it's obviously something alien…" Igor said, "It could be the Gate, it could be exposure to some foreign body or energy… _ez me ulertzen duzu_?"

"See I have no idea what language that is or what you said." Durov shook his head.

Igor frowned, "Its Basque, I have a cousin in San Sebastián, but you couldn't understand me, which indicates something."

"What?"

"No idea." Shrugged Igor, "Something though."

Durov considered for a few moments, the scientists at home would probably want to dissect him or something; he shivered uncomfortably at the thought.

"It might be a side effect of Gate travel." Mused Igor, "It would make sense… The aliens who built the Gates might want the people who used them to be able to talk to each other."

"Well it's all we've got at the moment," replied the Colonel. But then there was the question of why none of the others understood what the Romans were saying, suddenly he had a thought, "How many times have you been through the Gate Igor?" he asked the archaeologist.

Igor shrugged, "Less that you I should think, given the number of other missions you go on, reconnaissance and such." He paused, "Ah, I see where you're going, you think the greater the exposure the greater the ability to understand people? Very possible yes, could be a sort of gradual thing."

"Hm." Grunted Durov, "Not bad."

"I assume you can take care of the Senate proceedings then?" Igor asked, making motions to leave to go further into the city.

"Oh no." Durov scoffed, "Your coming with me, there's no way I'm talking to them alone. Also, the tactical advantage of having them think I don't understand them cannot be discounted." He then grabbed Diakonoff by the strap of his backpack and hauled him towards the large palatial building of the New Roman Senate.

The city of Nova Roma had been rebuilt several times, each time the Beastmen invaded they had burned it down and driven the Romans out, however inevitably the stability of the Beastmen army would break down and they would fragment, leaving them easily defeated by the remaining legions. As such, the city had been constructed in a rather piecemeal fashion, no building was more than three stories tall, and there were no walls, even around the central district.

The suburbs where the team had arrived were one of the newer examples of architecture, built in such a manner as to be easily defensible by a smaller force, with large pillars lining the roads which could be pulled down to block passage deeper into the city.

Toward the south of the city on a short hill sat several governmental buildings, temples and schools. Among these the Senate building, a strong facade of columns and pillars, as well as a bronze statue of Aeneas of Troy, legendary founder of the city.

The inside was lavishly decorated to Colonel Durov's eyes, the floor a large mural depicting a map of the Empire which Durov studied with interest. Most of the Empire was a single landmass, with one large island off to the west. Nova Roma was clearly marked, as were a few other names that Durov could read as Latin, however there were a good deal of land marks that the Colonel could make no sense of.

What was clear was the Beastlands, the name undecipherable Latin, but the terrain unmistakable, a jagged line of mountains shielding the Empire from the north, with one solitary fortification in the centre of the range.

"Honourable Fathers of Rome!" announced the seneschal, "Caesar has called this body together to hear the words of the men who came through the Circulum Vulcani, they claim to originate from our ancient land of Terra, and Caesar in his wisdom has decided to grant them audience, listen now!"

'Caesar' was sitting on a throne, attired in white toga with purple strip and a golden crown of laurel leaves. Beside him were two men holding axes bound in pack of rods, a symbol Colonel Durov was well acquainted with from his battles against the Italians in the Great Patriotic War, however, he had done his research before appearing at the Senate, and knew the real symbolism. It had shocked him to learn that the swastika, a symbol hated across Europe, was actually a symbol of good luck.

Dr. Diakonoff stepped forward, "Honourable Fathers," he addressed them in Latin, "Many thousands of years ago, the people of Egypt were visited by a being known as Ra, this Ra, using technology not understood by the Egyptians established himself as a god in their eyes, and subjugated the Egyptians, taking their people as slaves, with this tribute Ra went through what you call the Circulum Vulcani, but what we know as the _Stargate._"

* * *

"Ah Colonel Durov I presume?"

Durov looked at the strange man outside Abramovich's office, a small, skinny captain, a young man with slick black hair. "Who are you?" he asked the man.

"Captain Ivan Konovalov sir." The aforenamed announced with a salute. "Minister Vasilevsky has assigned me to liaise with the SGC and his department; I have a number of issues I'd like to discuss with you."

"Well we can talk after I see the General." Durov answered, knocking once at the door and striding into Abramovich's office, which was empty.

"The General has been called to Moscow sir."

Durov paused, "Has he really… well I don't suppose he'll mind us using his office then." He gestured for Konovalov to sit while he took Abramovich's chair. "What did you want to discuss?"

Konovalov opened a leather folder and looked through the papers. "At first the Minister assigned me to manage public relations pertaining to the program."

"The SGC is a state secret, there are no public relations."

Konovalov smiled, "Not yet sir, as such my job was to think up situations in which disclosure to the general public and our allies. These included but were not limited to," he glanced at his folder, "space-based attack, alien pandemic, infiltration by enemy agents, and similar technology surfacing in another nation unaligned with the USSR."

"I can think of contingencies in place for all apart from the last one." Durov said after considering for a moment, they had made sure that no evidence went out pertaining to Earth's place in the galaxy, and there was planning in place for an off world colony in case of a catastrophic event on Earth. Pandemics and infiltration were mainly taken care of by not allowing people to leave the SGC, and screening all teams on return.

"Yes sir," continued Konovalov, "The only weak point so far that we at the Ministry have discovered is the cover story, though your suggestion of the 'Stargate Program' as a space based system was a good one if a spy got hold of the appropriate documents the story just wouldn't make sense."

"Like?"

"Well the equipment for a start," Konovalov explained, "A space based weapons system might need thirty two scientists and fifty three engineers, but it would never need over three hundred military personnel on base. Nor would such a system need vehicles."

Durov shrugged, "Well I'm sure your people can think something better up, what I'm interested is the Stargate Regiment."

Captain Konovalov leafed through his folder to a different page, "The 107th Mobile Rifle Regiment is approximately 40% complete. We've been drawing from all over the country in various surplus dumps of equipment left over from the restructuring following the war, as you know the 'Stargate Regiment' as it is unofficially known will work in tandem with the planned sixty SG teams. The regiment will be specialised, lacking most of the airborne support and long range artillery capacity of a normal formation, relying on smaller vehicles and scouting operations. If you look on page 55 of the report you'll note our calculations on the Stargate itself, the wormhole is 6.7 metres in diameter, this means that whatever we bring through the Gate must be able to fit through a 4.7 metre square. The mechanics of the Gate system also prevent heavier vehicles from using it, given the lack of infrastructure such as bridges to support their weight."

"So how much of this," Durov waved a hand at the list of men and equipment, "Do we have so far?"

"Three hundred and twelve soldiers, four SU-76 self-propelled guns, fourteen 76mm divisional guns, one IS-3 heavy tank, seven T-34s, fourteen Katyusha launchers and assorted ammunition, and a further amount of various reconnaissance vehicles, most notably, eleven T-70s of assorted variants and four Dnper M-72 motorcycles."

"Why do we have more tanks that we do motorcycles?"

"Motorcycles can be adapted to civilian usage, tanks cannot."

"Ah."


End file.
